ither deer sinews, nor war-tap." _[The Indian name for the flexible
roots of the tamarack, or swamp larch, which they make use of in
manufacturing the birch baskets and canoes.]_ "I have a substitute at
hand, ma belle," and Louis pointed to the strips of leatherwood that he
had collected for binding the dressings on his cousin's foot.

When an idea once struck Louis, he never rested till he worked it out in
some way. In a few minutes he was busily employed, stripping sheets of
the ever-useful birch-bark from the trunk that had fallen at the foot
of the "Wolf's Crag," for so the children had named the memorable spot
where poor Catharine's accident had occurred.

The rough outside coatings of the bark, which are of silvery whiteness,
but are ragged from exposure to the action of the weather in the larger
and older trees, he peeled off, and then cutting the bark so that the
sides lapped well over, and the corners were secured from cracks, he
proceeded to pierce holes opposite to each other, and with some trouble
managed to stitch them tightly together, by drawing strips of the moose
or leather-wood through and through. The first attempt, of course, was
but rude and ill-shaped, but it answered the purpose, and only leaked a
little at the corners for want of a sort of flap, which he had forgotten
to allow in cutting out the bark; this flap in the Indian baskets and
dishes turns up, and keeps all tight and close. The defect he remedied
in his subsequent attempts. In spite of its deficiencies, Louis's
water-jar was looked upon with great admiration, and highly commended by
Catharine, who almost forgot her sufferings--while watching her cousin's
proceedings.

Louis was elated by his own successful ingenuity, and was for running
off directly to the spring. "Catharine shall now have cold water to
bathe her poor ancle with, and to quench her thirst," he said, joyfully
springing to his feet, ready for a start up the steep bank: but Hector
quietly restrained his lively cousin, by suggesting the possibility of
his not finding the "fountain in the wilderness," as Louis termed the
spring, or losing himself altogether.

"Let us both go together, then." cried Louis. Catharine cast on her
cousin an imploring glance.

"Do not leave me, dear Louis; Hector, do not let me be left alone." Her
sorrowful appeal stayed the steps of the volatile Louis.

"Go you, Hector, as you know the way: I will not leave you, Kate, since
I was the cause o